How far back in history?

Question

One for the historians. Living in the UK, how far back in history could I go (assuming I could) and still hear a language that I recognised as English?

Answer 1

You could definitely go back to Shakespearian England (late 1500's). By that point, England had adopted the dialect that we currently use. The Celts (Britons) of ancient England did not speak anything that you recognize, but it is the bottom piece of the sandwich that is now English. The Romans invaded England shortly before the birth of Christ and "latinized" the dialect of the Britons. Then, the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Vikings came and "Anglecized" the Briton language. Around the 800's you might be able to pick up text in Anglo-Saxon and pick out a few words. In fact, the most basic words like "eat" and "drink" come from that time period. But, in 1066, the language was "latinized" again when William the Conqueror came over the channel with hordes of Normans (Vikings who had relocated to Northern France) and this final wave gave us the bulk of our vocabulary, especially the more complicated words. But then you had the French of the aristocracy and the Anglo-Saxon of the peasants. Over time they grew together, but you would hear many versions of the language all over England. But, when Gutenberg's printing press was invented, the English of London began to dominate, and slowly it became Modern English. Shakespeare single handedly standardized English, and the circulation of the KJV made it the language of the peasants, the merchants, and the aristocracy. You can read 16th century Shakespeare, and you certainly can read 1611's King James Bible,but you would have difficulty reading 14th century Chaucer in the original text. Curiously enough, some of the words you would recognize are today's most vile swear words.

Answer 2

You would be able to understand some words spoken or have a good guess at them as far back as Romano Britain, however it would be something like 1 in a 1000 words. Come forward to the Dane Invasion and the Saxon Take over from the Angles and you would be up to maybe 1 in 250 after the Norman invasion the words would become more clearer as the transmuted to Old French and Latin, so about 1 in 150, then they would not much change until you got to the Tudor Times when Anglish became more pronounced and replaced the older tongues, by now you should be up to a good 1 in 50 at least. Move forward to past the Stewart era and into the Georgian Period and the Language is just about what we call Modern English.
Come Victorian England and we are almost up to date, the Language of the English changes almost daily with new words, corruptions and slangs being placed in to replace older outdated or unused words.
Also the other point is could you understand the local dialect o the region which heavily influenced and still does. For instance I have great difficulty understanding someone from Glasgow, Ireland and Manchester if they are speaking fast or have some excitment.

Answer 3

Hearing and being able to understand the written language probably vary according to your own understanding of the historical changes the language has undergone, and it might also depend upon whether you know any other languages.

A good example is Shakespeare, who wrote in the late 16th/early 17th century. Unless you have really studied his works, attending a Shakespeare play may leave you wondering what was going on.

The vocabulary as well as the syntax of the language varied considerably. If you go back even further to Chaucer, reading it requires a lot of help. The pronunciation in medieval times was also different.

And then you can go to Beowulf which scholars regard as the oldest English literature, but unless you have studied Anglo-Saxon or know any of the Scandinavian languages, it is almost unintelligible.

So my best guess, as a historian and someone with a degree in English, is that if you went back much before about 1750 you would probably have some difficulty in understanding what was said. So, 1750 + or - a few years would probably be the furthest you could go back without needing an interpreter.

But if you ever get to travel back in time, please make sure you keep lots of notes about everything you hear and see, and email me when you get back!

Answer 4

Back in 1385, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are fully recognisable as English as opposed to any other language, but you can only understand about 80 or 85 per cent when reading them, and probably less than 50 per cent if hearing them in the strangely-accented speech of the time.

I think if you went back another 100 years, your ears would tell you that you were no longer hearing English. But even back in 1085, although the written English of the Domesday Book is less than 50 per cent intelligible to modern readers, it is still recognisably English rather than anything else.

Answer 5

The mid Seventeenth Century. Before that the Great Vowel Shift would mean that you would have difficulty in understanding the language.

If you could cope with that difficulty, you could probably go back to the Thirteenth Century and middle English.

The written language is easier - both Malory and Chaucer are still recognisable as English.

Answer 6

What a good question. To me, it looks like the Shakespaerean era was getting rather alien. True, you can understand the words of Shakespear's plays, but you often have to think about them to understand, it is not automatic. That would be the 16th century. I often read Mark Twain, 19th century, and the language usage was different even then--awkward by our standards today, more formal, with awkward (for us) conventions. Chaucer, Middle English, is almost unintelligible. Great writing of course, but you have to decode it. Language continually evolves, it changes, and there is little doubt that the English we speak today will be mysterious to readers in 200 or 300 years.

Answer 7

Considering that Modern English is derived from several European linguistic sources, I find that it depends on whether you have studied any other languages. I speak French, and reasonable German, along with a bit of Dutch, and I find that I can understand Norman French, Old English, and even some Old Norse, whereas others in my Dark Age living history group who speak only English struggle to make sense of even the simplest phrases.

Answer 8

Nice to have an intelligent question on YA for a change.

Have often wondered myself. Regional dialects aside (which were much more indecipherable as little as 100 years ago), I think you could just about get back 400 years or so before you would need to use sign language.

Answer 9

Try English literature. Chaucer did all of his writing at the end of the fourteen hundreds. His poems can't be understood without tons of footnotes. Go back to the beginning of the thirteens and you wouldn't be able to understand anything at all.

Answer 10

Read Beowulf in Olde English.